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BUSINESS, BASIS OF PRESENTATION, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2025
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Basis of Accounting
When we prepare financial statements in conformity with GAAP, we are required to make estimates and assumptions that significantly affect reported amounts of various assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and revenues and expenses during the reporting periods.  For example, we use significant estimates and assumptions to calculate values for deferred acquisition costs, the present value of future profits, fair value measurements of certain investments (including derivatives), allowance for credit losses and other-than-temporary impairments of investments, assets and liabilities related to income taxes, liabilities for insurance products, liabilities related to litigation, guaranty fund assessment accruals, goodwill and intangible assets, and fee revenue.  If our future experience differs from these estimates and assumptions, our financial statements could be materially affected.
Consolidation
The accompanying financial statements are unaudited and include the accounts of the Company and its subsidiaries. Our consolidated financial statements exclude transactions between us and our consolidated affiliates, or among our consolidated affiliates.
Recently Adopted/Issued Accounting Standards
We adopted Accounting Standards Update 2023-07, Segment Reporting (Topic 280): Improvements to Reportable
Segment Disclosures ("ASU 2023-07") effective January 1, 2024. ASU 2023-07 is intended to improve reportable segment
disclosure requirements primarily through enhanced disclosures about significant segment expenses. Such requirements
include: (i) disclosures on significant segment expenses that are regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker
("CODM") and included within each reported measure of segment profit or loss on an annual and interim basis; (ii)
disclosures of an amount for other segment items by reportable segment and a description of its composition on an annual
and interim basis (the other segment items category is the difference between segment revenues less the segment expenses
disclosed pursuant to the new guidance); (iii) providing all annual disclosures on a reportable segment’s profit or loss and
assets currently required by Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") ASC Topic 280, Segment Reporting, in
interim periods; and (iv) specifying the title and position of the CODM and an explanation of how the CODM uses the
reported measures to assess segment performance and make decisions about allocating resources. The adoption of ASU
2023-07 did not have an impact on our financial position or results of operations, and did not have a material impact on our
disclosures. The adoption was made retrospectively.
In November 2024, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2024-03, Income Statement—Reporting
Comprehensive Income—Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40): Disaggregation of Income Statement
Expenses (“ASU 2024-03”), which requires disclosure of additional information about specific expense categories in the
notes to the financial statements. ASU 2024-03 is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2026 and for
interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2027. Early adoption is permitted. ASU 2024-03 may be
applied retrospectively or prospectively. The Company is currently evaluating the effect of this update on its consolidated
financial statements and related disclosures.

In December 2023, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740):
Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures ("ASU 2023-09"). ASU 2023-09 is intended to improve the effectiveness of
income tax disclosures by requiring, among other things, the disclosure on an annual basis of: (i) specific categories in the
rate reconciliation; and (ii) additional information for reconciling items that meet a quantitative threshold. In addition, ASU
2023-09 requires disclosure (on an annual basis) of the following information about income taxes paid: (i) the amount of
income taxes paid (net of refunds received) disaggregated by federal (national), state, and foreign taxes; and (ii) the amount
of income taxes paid (net of refunds received) disaggregated by individual jurisdictions in which income taxes paid (net of
refunds received) is equal to or greater than 5 percent of total income taxes paid (net of refunds received). ASU 2023-09 is
effective for annual periods beginning January 1, 2025, to be applied prospectively with an option for retrospective
application (with early adoption permitted). The adoption of ASU 2023-09 will modify our disclosures but will not have an
impact on our financial position or results of operations.
Revision of Prior Period Amounts
Revision of Prior Period Amounts

Certain amounts presented in the prior years’ consolidated balance sheet and consolidated statement of operations as of March 31, 2024 and related footnotes thereto have been corrected to conform with the current period presentation. During the fourth quarter of 2024, the Company corrected certain immaterial errors that resulted in misclassifications related to market risk benefits.

Upon the adoption of Accounting Standards Update 2018-12, Financial Services—Insurance (Topic 944): Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts, the Company recorded the fair value of the market risk benefit ("MRB") in policyholder account balances, resulting in no initial MRB presented separately on the consolidated balance sheet. MRBs are required to be presented separately in the consolidated balance sheet. Subsequent to transaction inception, the resulting accumulated change in the fair value of the MRBs was recorded as market risk benefits within the consolidated balance sheet. Additionally, the transaction’s resulting policyholder account balance discount was accreted in change in fair value of MRBs. This accretion should have been recorded in insurance policy benefits within the consolidated statement of operations.

To correct for the error, the Company increased insurance policy benefits by $5.2 million and decreased change in fair value of market risk benefits by $5.2 million within the consolidated statement of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2024.
Investments
We classify our fixed maturity securities into one of two categories: (i) "available for sale" (which we carry at estimated fair value with any unrealized gain or loss, net of any allowance for credit losses and income taxes, recorded as a component of shareholders' equity); or (ii) "trading" (which we carry at estimated fair value with changes in such value recognized as either net investment income (classified as investment income from policyholder and other special-purpose portfolios) or investment gains (losses)).

Trading securities include: (i) investments purchased with the intent of selling in the near term to generate income; and (ii) certain fixed maturity securities containing embedded derivatives for which we have elected the fair value option.  The change in fair value of the income generating investments is recognized in income from policyholder and other special-purpose portfolios in the consolidated statement of operations. The change in fair value of securities with embedded derivatives is recognized in other investment gains (losses) in the consolidated statement of operations.

We review our available for sale fixed maturity securities with unrealized losses to determine whether such impairments are the result of credit losses. We analyze various factors to make such determinations including, but not limited to: (i) actions taken by rating agencies; (ii) default by the issuer; (iii) the significance of the decline; (iv) an assessment of our intent to sell the security before recovering the security's amortized cost; (v) an economic analysis of the issuer's industry; and (vi) the financial strength, liquidity, and recoverability of the issuer. We perform a security by security review each quarter to evaluate whether a credit loss has occurred.

In determining the credit loss component, we discount the estimated cash flows on a security by security basis. We consider the impact of macroeconomic conditions on inputs used to measure the amount of credit loss. For most structured securities, cash flow estimates are based on bond-specific facts and circumstances that may include collateral characteristics, expectations of delinquency and default rates, loss severity, prepayment speeds and structural support, including over-collateralization, excess spread, subordination and guarantees. For corporate bonds, cash flow estimates are derived by considering asset type, rating, time to maturity, and applying an expected loss rate.

If a portion of the decline is due to credit-related factors, we separate the credit loss component of the impairment from the amount related to all other factors. The credit loss component is recorded as an allowance and reported in other investment gains (losses) (limited to the difference between estimated fair value and amortized cost). The impairment related to all other factors (non-credit factors) is reported in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) along with unrealized gains (losses) related to fixed maturity investments, available for sale, net of tax and related adjustments. The allowance is adjusted for any additional credit losses and subsequent recoveries. When recognizing an allowance associated with a credit loss, the cost basis is not adjusted. When we determine a security is uncollectible, the remaining amortized cost will be written off.
  
If we intend to sell an impaired fixed maturity security, available for sale, or identify an impaired fixed maturity security, available for sale, for which it is more likely than not we will be required to sell before anticipated recovery, the difference between the fair value and the amortized cost is included in other investment gains (losses) and the fair value becomes the new amortized cost. The new cost basis is not adjusted for any subsequent recoveries in fair value.

The Company reports accrued investment income separately from fixed maturities, available for sale, and has elected not to measure an allowance for credit losses for accrued investment income. Accrued investment income is written off through net investment income at the time the issuer of the bond defaults or is expected to default on payments.
Future events may occur, or additional information may become available, which may necessitate future realized losses in our portfolio.  Significant losses could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial statements in future periods.
Earnings Per Share Basic earnings per common share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the period.  Restricted shares (including our performance units) are not included in basic earnings per share until vested.  Diluted earnings per share reflect the potential dilution that could occur if outstanding stock options were exercised and restricted stock was vested.  The dilution from options and restricted shares is calculated using the treasury stock method.  Under this method, we assume the proceeds from the exercise of the options (or the unrecognized compensation expense with respect to restricted stock and performance units) will be used to purchase shares of our common stock at the average market price during the period, reducing the dilutive effect of the exercise of the options (or the vesting of the restricted stock and performance units).
Business Segments
We view our operations as three insurance product line segments (annuity, health and life) and the investment and fee income segments. Our segments are aligned based on their common characteristics, comparability of profit margins and the way the CODM makes operating decisions and assesses the performance of the business. Our CODM is the Chief Executive Officer.

Our insurance product line segments (annuity, health and life) include marketing, underwriting and administration of the policies our insurance subsidiaries sell. The business written in each of the three product categories through all of our insurance subsidiaries is aggregated allowing management and investors to assess the performance of each product category. When analyzing profitability of these segments, we use insurance product margin as the measure of profitability, which is: (i) insurance policy income; and (ii) net investment income allocated to the insurance product lines; less (i) insurance policy benefits; (ii) interest credited to policyholders; (iii) amortization of deferred acquisition costs and present value of future profits, non-deferred commissions; and (iv) advertising expense. Net investment income is allocated to the product lines using the book yield of investments backing the block of business, which is applied to the average net insurance liabilities for the block in each period. Net insurance liabilities for the purpose of allocating investment income to product lines are equal to: (i) policyholder account values for interest sensitive products; (ii) total reserves before the fair value adjustments reflected in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), if applicable, for all other products; less (iii) amounts related to reinsured business; (iv) deferred acquisition costs; (v) the present value of future profits; and (vi) the value of unexpired options credited to insurance liabilities.

Income from insurance products is the sum of the insurance product margins of the annuity, health and life product lines, less expenses allocated to the insurance lines. It excludes the income from our fee income business, investment income not allocated to product lines, net expenses not allocated to product lines (primarily holding company expenses) and income taxes. Management believes insurance product margin and income from insurance products help provide a better understanding of the business and a more meaningful analysis of the results of our insurance product lines.

We market our products through the Consumer and Worksite Divisions that reflect the customers served by the Company. The Consumer and Worksite Divisions are primarily focused on marketing insurance products, several types of which are sold in both divisions and underwritten in the same manner.

The Consumer Division serves individual consumers, engaging with them on the phone, virtually, online, face-to-face with agents, or through a combination of sales channels. This structure unifies consumer capabilities into a single division and integrates the strength of our agent sales forces with one of the largest direct-to-consumer insurance businesses with proven experience in advertising, web/digital and call center support.

The Worksite Division focuses on the sale of voluntary benefit life and health insurance products in the workplace for businesses, associations, and other membership groups, interacting with customers at their place of employment and virtually. The Worksite Division also offers employer benefits services that seek to increase benefits engagement and reduce costs for employers and their employees. These services include: benefit administration technology, year-round advocacy, enrollment, benefits compliance and communications services.

The investment segment involves the management of our capital resources, including investments and the management of corporate debt and liquidity. Our measure of profitability of this segment is the total net investment income not allocated to the insurance products. Investment income not allocated to product lines represents net investment income less: (i) equity returns credited to policyholder account balances; (ii) the investment income allocated to our product lines; (iii) interest expense on notes payable, investment borrowings and financing arrangements; (iv) expenses related to the FABN program; and (v) certain expenses related to benefit plans that are offset by special-purpose investment income; plus (vi) the impact of annual option forfeitures related to fixed indexed annuity surrenders. Investment income not allocated to product lines includes investment income on investments in excess of amounts allocated to product lines, investments held by our holding companies, the spread we earn from our Federal Home Loan Bank ("FHLB") investment borrowing and FABN programs and variable components of investment income (including call and prepayment income, adjustments to returns on structured securities due to cash flow changes, income (loss) from COLI and alternative investment income not allocated to product lines), net of interest expense on corporate debt and financing arrangements. The spread earned from our FHLB investment borrowing and FABN programs includes the investment income on the matched assets less: (i) interest on investment borrowings related to the FHLB
investment borrowing program; (ii) interest credited on funding agreements; and (iii) amortization of deferred acquisition costs related to the FABN program.

Our fee income segment includes the earnings generated from sales of third-party insurance products (primarily Medicare Advantage), services provided by Optavise, LLC ("Optavise") and the operations of our broker-dealer and registered investment advisor. The resulting fee income metric is the fee income segment's measure of profitability.

Our CODM allocates resources and assesses the performance of each operating segment based on the respective
product line insurance margin, investment income not allocated, and fee income metrics described above.

Expenses not allocated to product lines include the expenses of our corporate operations, excluding interest expense on debt.

We measure segment performance by excluding total investment gains (losses), changes in fair value of embedded derivative liabilities and MRBs, fair value changes related to the agent deferred compensation plan, income taxes and other non-operating items including earnings attributable to VIEs ("pre-tax operating earnings") because we believe that this performance measure is a better indicator of the ongoing business and trends in our business.  Our primary investment focus is on investment income to support our liabilities for insurance products as opposed to the generation of investment gains (losses), and a long-term focus is necessary to maintain profitability over the life of the business.

Investment gains (losses), changes in fair value of embedded derivative liabilities and MRBs, fair value changes related to the agent deferred compensation plan and other non-operating items consisting primarily of earnings attributable to VIEs depend on market conditions or represent unusual items that do not necessarily relate to the underlying business of our segments.  Investment gains (losses) and changes in fair value of embedded derivative liabilities and MRBs may affect future earnings levels since our underlying business is long-term in nature and changes in our investment portfolio may impact our ability to earn the assumed interest rates needed to maintain the profitability of our business.
Fair Value Measurements
Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date and, therefore, represents an exit price, not an entry price.  We carry certain assets and liabilities at fair value on a recurring basis, including fixed maturities, equity securities, trading securities, investments held by VIEs, derivatives, separate account assets and embedded derivatives.  We carry our company-owned life insurance ("COLI"), which is invested in a series of mutual funds, at its cash surrender value which approximates fair value. In addition, we disclose fair value for certain financial instruments that are not carried at fair value, including mortgage loans, policy loans, cash and cash equivalents, insurance liabilities for interest-sensitive products and funding agreements, investment borrowings, notes payable and borrowings related to VIEs.

The degree of judgment utilized in measuring the fair value of financial instruments is largely dependent on the level to which pricing is based on observable inputs.  Observable inputs reflect market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs reflect our view of market assumptions in the absence of observable market information. Financial instruments with readily available active quoted prices would be considered to have fair values based on the highest level of observable inputs, and little judgment would be utilized in measuring fair value.  Financial instruments that rarely trade would often have fair value based on a lower level of observable inputs, and more judgment would be utilized in measuring fair value.

Valuation Hierarchy

There is a three-level hierarchy for valuing assets or liabilities at fair value based on whether inputs are observable or unobservable.

Level 1 – includes assets and liabilities valued using inputs that are unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.  Our Level 1 assets primarily include cash and cash equivalents and exchange-traded securities.

Level 2 – includes assets and liabilities valued using inputs that are quoted prices for similar assets in an active market, quoted prices for identical or similar assets in a market that is not active, observable inputs, or observable inputs that can be corroborated by market data.  Level 2 assets and liabilities include those financial instruments that are valued by independent pricing services using models or other valuation methodologies.  These models consider various inputs such as credit rating, maturity, corporate credit spreads, reported trades and other inputs that are observable or derived from observable information in the marketplace or are supported by transactions executed in the marketplace. Financial assets in this category primarily include: certain publicly registered and privately placed corporate fixed maturity securities; certain government or agency securities; certain mortgage and asset-backed securities; certain equity securities; most investments held by our consolidated VIEs; and derivatives such as call options. Financial liabilities in this category include investment borrowings, notes payable and borrowings related to VIEs.

Level 3 – includes assets and liabilities valued using unobservable inputs that are used in model-based valuations that contain management assumptions.  Level 3 assets and liabilities include those financial instruments whose fair value is estimated based on broker-dealer quotes, pricing services or internally developed models or methodologies utilizing significant inputs not based on, or corroborated by, readily available market information.  Financial assets in this category include certain corporate securities, certain structured securities, mortgage loans, policy loans and other less liquid securities.  Financial liabilities in this category include our insurance liabilities for interest-sensitive products, which includes embedded derivatives (including embedded derivatives related to our fixed indexed annuity products and to a modified coinsurance arrangement), and funding agreements since their values include significant unobservable inputs, including actuarial assumptions.

At each reporting date, we classify assets and liabilities into the three input levels based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the measurement of fair value for each asset and liability reported at fair value.  This classification is impacted by a number of factors, including the type of financial instrument, whether the financial instrument is new to the market and not yet established, the characteristics specific to the transaction and overall market conditions.  Our assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement and the ultimate classification of each asset and liability requires judgment and is subject to change from period to period based on the observability of the valuation inputs.
The vast majority of our assets carried at fair value use Level 2 inputs for the determination of fair value.  These fair values are obtained primarily from independent pricing services, which use Level 2 inputs for the determination of fair value.  Our Level 2 assets are valued as follows:

Fixed maturities available for sale, equity securities and trading securities

Corporate securities are generally priced using market and income approaches using independent pricing services. Inputs generally consist of trades of identical or similar securities, quoted prices in inactive markets, issuer rating, benchmark yields, maturity and credit spreads.

U.S. Treasuries and obligations of U.S. Government corporations and agencies are generally priced using the market approach. Inputs generally consist of trades of identical or similar securities, quoted prices in inactive markets and maturity.

States and political subdivisions are generally priced using the market approach using independent pricing services. Inputs generally consist of trades of identical or similar securities, quoted prices in inactive markets, new issuances and credit spreads.

Foreign governments are generally priced using the market approach using independent pricing services. Inputs generally consist of trades of identical or similar securities, quoted prices in inactive markets, new issuances, benchmark yields, credit spreads and issuer rating.

Asset-backed securities, agency and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, collateralized loan obligations and commercial mortgage-backed securities are generally priced using market and income approaches using independent pricing services. Inputs generally consist of quoted prices in inactive markets, spreads on actively traded securities, expected prepayments, expected default rates, expected recovery rates and issue specific information including, but not limited to, collateral type, seniority and vintage.

Equity securities are generally priced using the market approach. Inputs generally consist of trades of identical or similar securities, quoted prices in inactive markets, issuer rating, benchmark yields, maturity and credit spreads.

Investments held by VIEs

Corporate securities are generally priced using market and income approaches using independent pricing vendors. Inputs generally consist of issuer rating, benchmark yields, maturity, and credit spreads.

Other invested assets - derivatives

The fair value measurements for derivative instruments, including embedded derivatives requiring bifurcation, are determined based on the consideration of several inputs including closing exchange or over-the-counter market price quotes, time value and volatility factors underlying options, market interest rates and non-performance risk.

Third-party pricing services normally derive security prices through recently reported trades for identical or similar securities making adjustments through the reporting date based upon observable market information.  If there are no recently reported trades, the third-party pricing services may use matrix or model processes to develop a security price where future cash flow expectations are discounted at an estimated risk-adjusted market rate.  The number of prices obtained for a given security is dependent on the Company's analysis of such prices as further described below.

As the Company is responsible for the determination of fair value, we have control processes designed to ensure that the fair values received from third-party pricing sources are reasonable and the valuation techniques and assumptions used appear reasonable and consistent with prevailing market conditions. Additionally, when inputs are provided by third-party pricing sources, we have controls in place to review those inputs for reasonableness. As part of these controls, we perform monthly quantitative and qualitative analysis on the prices received from third parties to determine whether the prices are reasonable
estimates of fair value.  The Company's analysis includes: (i) a review of the methodology used by third-party pricing services; (ii) where available, a comparison of multiple pricing services' valuations for the same security; (iii) a review of month to month price fluctuations; (iv) a review to ensure valuations are not unreasonably dated; and (v) back testing to compare actual purchase and sale transactions with valuations received from third parties.  As a result of such procedures, the Company may conclude a particular price received from a third-party is not reflective of current market conditions.  In those instances, we may request additional pricing quotes or apply internally developed valuations. However, the number of such instances is insignificant and the aggregate change in value of such investments is not materially different from the original prices received.

The categorization of the fair value measurements of our investments priced by independent pricing services was based upon the Company's judgment of the inputs or methodologies used by the independent pricing services to value different asset classes. The Company categorizes such fair value measurements based upon asset classes and the underlying observable or unobservable inputs used to value such investments.

For securities that are not priced by pricing services and may not be reliably priced using pricing models, we obtain broker quotes.  These broker quotes are non-binding and represent an exit price, but assumptions used to establish the fair value may not be observable and therefore represent Level 3 inputs.  Approximately 95 percent of our Level 3 fixed maturity securities and trading securities were valued using unadjusted broker quotes or broker-provided valuation inputs.  The remaining Level 3 fixed maturity investments do not have readily determinable market prices and/or observable inputs.  For these securities, we use internally developed valuations.  Key assumptions used to determine fair value for these securities may include risk premiums, projected performance of underlying collateral and other factors involving significant assumptions which may not be reflective of an active market.  For certain investments, we use a matrix or model process to develop a security price where future cash flow expectations are discounted at an estimated market rate.  The pricing matrix incorporates term interest rates as well as a spread level based on the issuer's credit rating, other factors relating to the issuer, and the security's maturity.  In some instances issuer-specific spread adjustments, which can be positive or negative, are made based upon internal analysis of security specifics such as liquidity, deal size, and time to maturity.